Subaru Impreza in Silo with questions

EmAr

Hi everyone! I've been trying to get more efficient with Silo. This is the result of two days of modeling. It has 9332 triangles.


I have some questions as I am a little behind this whole next-gen thing.
Firstly, is use of normal maps a common practice with such non-deforming objects(vehicles, weapons etc.)?
Secondly, I read a tutorial which involved modeling hard edges with thin polygon strips like I tried to do. Did smoothing groups lose their popularity?
In addition to these, any C&C are more than welcome.
Thanks a lot for looking.

Ghostscape

Normal maps are pretty common everywhere, I think. Not every game will use them. With the amount of details you've put into this car, you could make use of them. However, you have a lot of wasted triangles (a lot of vertical edgeloops that add very little/nothing to the shape of the vehicle for most of the loop) and with those triangles reclaimed you could probably model in every detail you still need.

Using the thin strips instead of smoothing groups gives you this thin little edge that will catch specular lighting beautifully - regular hard edges are an impossibly sharp edge that doesn't light realistically, whereas with the very thin line you'll get a nice specular line.